Sunday, November 25, 2012

NDTV: Vikram's Anguish, Barkha's Ire

In a series of tweets on November 23 Vikram Chandra, the Executive Director and an anchor at NDTV, wondered about the reason for
deterioration in TV news. VC who usually appears mild-mannered and soft-spoken
on TV is probably genuinely wondering about a serious situation. My instant
reply was that it was those from the NDTV stable who had contributed considerably
to lowering the BAR. Er... That BAR
is Barkha-Arnab-Rajdeep. There are
two ways to look at news. You either look at it as public service or as a
regular business. The choice defines who the target or customers are. The
choice also defines the content, methods and coverage. Without a doubt, since
all three channels which these celebs represent have chosen business over
public service the model was destined to fail. There’s a golden rule which most
successful businessmen in India know: ‘If
you want mega success in India, learn to do business with the poor and the
middle class’.

When Reliance was about to embark into the mobile
communication business Anil Ambani recalled how Dhirubhai had told him: “We must find a way that a villager in
Chorwad (Dhirubhai’s hometown in Gujarat) can make an STD call in 40paise”.
Do NDTV, TimesNow or CNN-IBN look like they want to deal with any guys like
that? I have often joked that channels like NDTV and CNN-IBN are meant for
those with a mini-bar at home. Calling these channels ‘News Channels’ is like
calling Cosmopolitan or Vogue newspapers. The mindless debates, Bollywood,
tamashas, slanted news items, nothing-to-fill for 24 hour news channels but
repeats were bound to cause damage.

These channels were simply driven by agendas and money and nothing
else. The concept of news as public service has escaped them completely. I can
write a model for VC but that can wait. It won’t work unless NDTV comes out of
its celebrity-cult management style. They refuse to the see the truth that
Barkha Dutt has brought about a lot of negative views about NDTV. No amount of
screaming and ranting can alter that. If VC really wants to introspect, that’s
where he will need to start. All the three celebrities are not only at odds with
the public but also with the social media. Instead of harnessing social media
profitably to extend their reach they see it as an evil that threatens them. To
the celeb that villager in Chorwad is an anonymous moron whose needs or
opinions don’t matter. Rajdeep went all the way to Ramlila to take a picture
with Anna Hazare but I doubt you would find a pic with him and some folks in
the crowds that had gathered there. And then these folks want all the media
platforms to rant: TV, Newspaper, Social Media, Conventions, Seminars; everywhere.
So Barkha’s latest Divine rant is titled “To each his own”. Where did it appear? Of course, in Hindustan Times.

She writes about 66A and the
arrest of the two girls over their Facebook comments on Bal Thackerays funeral
and Mumbai shutting down. I do not recall a single comment anywhere which supported
the arrest. But the media, while blowing up this case, overlooks the other
similar cases. Ah, I guess there must a special reason for this. But 66A and
the case is just a side-story. The main
story returns to her defence of her action against Chaitanya Kunte, the
blogger who nailed her “Shoddy
Journalism” during the 26/11 attacks. I have watched the 26/11 attacks on
TV from 10pm on 26/11 right till the end with just a few hours of sleep. Like
many, I cannot help agreeing 100% with what Kunte wrote. Yet, Barkha lives in
denial. Fine! But cleverly she chooses to pick a point from Kunte’s blog that doesn’t
refer to her directly at all. Here’s what she writes:

“Four years ago, I sent a legal notice to a
blogger for, among other seriously slanderous comments, suggesting that my
reportage on 26/11 was somehow linked to the death of police officer Hemant
Karkare. Apart from the irresponsible, sweeping nature of the comments, it was
low on facts. As a Delhi-based reporter, I wasn't even in Mumbai the night
Karkare was killed”.

That’s truly clever. She wasn’t in Mumbai on the night of 26/11. Nobody said she was. She was there
probably from 27/11 onward. And some of the content in Kunte’s blog is an exact
reproduction of the transactions Barkha was involved in. Nowhere, I repeat
nowhere, does Kunte even remotely link Hemant
Karkare’s death with Barkha. Although Kunte has since pulled his blog you
can read the particular post in question here
or on many sites where it’s reproduced. Far from suppressing his views Barkha
only managed to enlighten the whole world about that post with her silly legal
action. In fact, Karkare’s name doesn’t even appear in the main post but in
an update. Here’s what Kunte actually wrote:

“Update: In fact, I am willing to believe that
Hemant Karkare died because these channels showed him prepare (wear helmet,
wear bullet-proof vest.) in excruciating detail live on television. And they in
turn targeted him where he was unprotected. The brave officer succumbed to
bullets in the neck”.

Now that will make it clear to anyone reading it that Kunte was referring
to “all news channels” and not
specifically to Barkha or her channel at all. So her mindless outburst is based
on nothing but fake righteousness. She cleverly omits the main contents of the
post which actually reproduces her reporting during the attack. She probably assumes
no one will look back or remember the episode and she can get away with some
spurious defence of her conduct. Vikram Chandra fails to estimate how much
damage this particular episode has done to NDTV not just in India but across
the world. Barkha’s contempt for bloggers is all too well known. Twitter and FB
were still new to India in 2008 but have caught up strongly. Here’s what Barkha
laments further:

“The misogyny of some online discourse is now
well established. Earlier this year, writer Meena Kandasamy tweeted about
attending a beef-eating festival. The volley of abuse that followed included
calling her a bitch, a whore and a terrorist”.

Barkha uses what may be a few abusive tweets to tar the entire Twitter
group that is not so friendly to her and doesn’t present her with “accolades”
all the time. Now remember, there are media celebs who have called Lord Ram a
D***, who have called people “guttersnipes”,
who have called “Indian males ugly”.
Suhel Seth in DMs on Twitter is a specialist
in showering abuses on mothers of Tweeple. He is a friend and regular guest of
NDTV. Should we conclude all media celebs, including Barkha, are abusive
idiots? Barkha uses such stray tweets, as do others, to smartly follow her
agenda of tarring all her critics with the same brush. This is her way of
spewing venom at the so called “right wingers” or those not falling within her
definition of “secular”.

Is that all? Not at all! A former NDTV colleague of Barkha called me an
“anonymous, unreachable terrorist”
in a very public forum. I had never written about or even mentioned this guy
anywhere. Umm.. I guess if one were Barkha he would have sued the guy. I
demolished his nonsense in a couple of posts and he knows it too. But are we at
war? Not at all! Today, that person and I follow each other with a lot of friendliness
and without any bitterness. Barkha is yet to grow up. Such a huge ego and so
much arrogance are hardly suited for public service. For all my stinging
criticism Rajdeep calls me “paid-media”.
Haha! I laugh but I don’t grudge Rajdeep and I understand his grief. Barkha’s
cronies have called me “rabid” and
she joined in too. Should I now call her and her followers abusive morons?One doesn’t make a mountain of mole hills and
stray abuses. Vikram Chandra doesn’t realise how much damage his celebs are
causing NDTV through their conduct on the social media.

Barkha and NDTV haven't come to terms with social media yet. But the one thing they
can definitely learn is how to use social media productively. Even Modi uses Google+ hangout and now
seeking ordinary folks as brand ambassadors for Gujarat through his FB page,
These are surelyinnovative methods on the social media. In contrast
Barkha continues her tirade against unknown people and critics and continues to
lose fans for NDTV. If Vikram Chandra
seeks to improve NDTV’s TRP or innovate in their business models, his celebs certainly
aren’t helping his cause. All his well-intended anguish gets destroyed by
irate behaviour of his celebs. Barkha’s latest article has nothing to do with
66A or those stupid arrests. It is another silly attempt at getting rid of the
albatross around her neck. Neither Chaitanya Kunte nor Radiagate are going to
disappear in a hurry. Anger and arrogance won’t do it, some genuine remorse
will.

23 comments
:

It was indeed funny to read barkha dutt's post.As if she was using so much of that newspaper space for a personal story telling to everyone. These people have no shame at all. After all the serious level charges against her, she can come out of hiding, use HT as a platform and preach how social media should behave?? i say WTF to that! And just this morning i was reading HT about intellingence bureau chief appointment and i was shocked and surprised to see what was written. they say that by appointing a muslim officer as IB head,the govt is saying to muslims that we are giving adequate representation to you at such a high levels. did i read that correct?? So shameless minority appeasement has come even in such sensitive postings?? Or is it HT that is fabricating such statements?? I really am not able to interpret such news items. can you help Mr Ravinar?

There is simply no escape from us. This fact is well known to all in media.

These people hate our guts because that is what we have & are always pulling their guts out to show them how gutless they all are.

Recently I did have a chance to raise the issue of ethics of NDTV with Vikram Chandra the man refused to answer this, but Mr. Shekhar Gupta of IE did make an attempt to respond. This is recorded in my blog "Amateur's encounter with the media upclose"

The other point that you raised is the damage that Barkha Dutt is causing to the channel. This point I had raised way back 2010 more than 2years ago in my blog "From The Dizzy Heights of Kargil to Despairing Depths of oblivion."

This constant pressure from us bloggers & Tweeters will bear fruit that is a given.

This is what I do when I want to read an article.First I read he comments which gives me the whole picture whether the article is worth reading or not.In Barkha's article 100% of the comments are against her views.This is what enrages her and her ilk.This is the power of Social Media.And this is what going to take them down the drain.

After the Radiagate I always wondered in any part of the world will Barkha get a job as journalist.But as the saying goes 'It Happens Only In India'.

I hope some one can circulate Mr.Ravinar's articles bundled with newspaper as newspapers or magazines or flyers for a week with the help of distributors in their respective cities and villages.

May be we can collect some money voluntarily(with right kind of auditing) and target one city at a time.May be Mr.Ravinar should take the initiative with like minded people.I've my own plans to do the same thing but am busy with projects and personal stuff and intended to do ones my work comes to completion.The corrupt media has to go Indians need better service.

Completely agree with you....We need to take all this to the common man.....I hope Ravinar has some plans for expansion...maybe tie up with some good channel and have a one hour program everyday to critique news shown in various channels....Im more than willing to donate whatever I can for such a cause....

Yes. The time has come for every patriotic Indian to fight these corrupt NEWS people spoiling the entire young generation all 24x7--365. I am willing to donate and help physically also if an attempt is made to start a REVOLT against these fraud news channels.

I have admired the news sense value of BBC and CNN. Their debates on HARD TALK or interviews of celebrities by LARRY KING LIVE are always fascinating and worth listening. I did not regret for the time spent listening after them.

All i asked was a single question on Radi Tapes and she blocked me! She has to come clean on this, by apologizing (like Vir Sanghvi) and saying so to every Tweeple who ask her the same question. I am sure shw will read these comments as well.

In the case of Ms.Kandasamy, she conveniently forgets that the beef eating "festival" was unnecessary and was programmed to belittle the Hindu's who revere and worship cows. If Barkha is insensitive to majority Hindu beliefs and support the perpetrator, where else do we air our anguish? On twitter - isn't it? What would have been her reaction if some hindu's were to hod a "Port Eating festival" at the same campus? Mayhem! The same Barkha would have called the Porkers as divisive forces! Such hypocracy.

Barkha - I and my family switch off the channel anytime we see you on any programs. 99.9% of the time we don't watch any NDTV channels. We also don't watch ANY English news channels for that matter. We depend on Twitter for the true news and of course the likes of @Mediacrooks!

As always you have managed to say what ails the MSM today. My own personal example, i have been sarcastic but never abusive, yet she blocked me like she must have innumerable other tweeples. Till our media is able to face people's brickbats with the same equanimity that they show towards praise, I can think that this war will continue and MSM will fight the war on the side of convenience!!!!

Our scum man, I mean, family scam man Vadra saab was at the HT Leadership summit.

The unexpected resurfacing of the non-Mango Man in the world’s most democratic Banana Republic should have sent the top-notch print and television journalists present at the function scrambling for an interview, quote, off-the-record conversation, anything to show their respective audiences that they were on their toes, gathering news even at social events mainly utilised for networking. After all, converting Rs 50 lakh into assets worth Rs 500 crore is no small feat, and the public could do with a little ‘insight’.

Vadra could and should have been asked to expound his future political plans, if any. After all, married into the Congress’s controlling dynasty, he publicly articulated a desire to carve a personal niche in politics during the recent Uttar Pradesh Assembly election. Another question that should legitimately have been asked is why he reportedly spends so much time abroad these days.

Of course, none of that happened. What his presence at the HT Leadership Summit did establish is the sad fact that the mainstream media has reinstated the Omerta Code for the Nehru-Gandhi Dynasty. No one asked him any questions, and in fact he seems to have got the polite distancing treatment. Nor were there any explanatory stories the next day from ‘hitherto reliable sources’. The heavy duty news hounds present behaved as if they had not seen him, and for the Congress and its first family, it was business as usual.

So BD, asking you through @MC - whats your next move? Tweeples socialites are up at arms against you, you blocking them, you are most welcome here to vent your ire against so many Anons following you. And a variety of topics for you to peruse and rant - maybe you'll learn some psychology of tweeples. The site is very democratic, don't fear you won't be flamed, you got to be saner unlike Ramani and the ilke. And yes, we don't take anyone to courts for conversation sake. Waiting in anticipation.

Hi Ravi. thanks for exposing Crookini Barkha. Excellent write up. I was told by one of my colleagues, a crook himself, to watch NDTV to know about India and Indian Media. Believe me Barkha and Razdan, ere nothing but very obnoxious. VC was good, but biased towards the crook Psuedo Gandhis was obvious. I stopped watching it three years back. God even can not save India if this Notorious Dirty TV station continues in its present form!

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